Shooting with a sling?

[Eugene Slagle]

Hello my friends, I have a question.

How many of us here use some form of sling to retain their bow while shooting?
Be it bow mounted, finger or wrist type.

I found yesterday that for some reason I was gripping my bow more than normal & in the result my shots were not great.
I then decided to try one of my finger slings & be mindful to have a relaxed hand & all my shots went back to my normal groupings of 2-3 5's & the rest 4's with an occasional 3 on a NFAA indoor target face.

So my question is, how many of us use a sling of some sort?

[d from phx]

I use a wrist sling with a relaxed hand.

[Tav]

I use a sling sometimes.

[Arrowhead80]

I have a sling on every bow i own.Takes your mind off of one thing while shooting(whether or not you're holding your bow right).

[bowrocker07]

I went through a phase where I was gripping the bow excessively hard.  I used a sling to break the habit, and then went back to shooting without one, just focusing on the proper grip.  

Using a sling is a great way to focus ALL of your bow hand pressure to the throat of the grip, to eliminate bow torque.  This will result in a cleaner and more consistent shot.

[term]

I started with a sling made from a nylon fish stringer an black electrical tape 35 years ago. Then out of no where last year stopped using one. Took me a season to see why I need one. Its back on and I am shooting much better.

[DGEsposito]

I used a finger sling to get past the learning curve and the sling taught me that my fingers on the string would determine the cant of the bow if my grip was to tight I would be torquing the bow and fighting the string hand.Now I let the string hand determine verticle and litely grip the bow.

[NJWoodsman]

I've used a wrist sling on most of my bows, currently on a Gamemaster II. Not choking the bow has become ingrained enough that I can also shoot a vintage bow without one. Once in a great while I'll forget and the bow will end up on the ground in front of me!

[canshooter]

I tried a sling (shoelace) for the first time recently. I know this forum is not about target shooting but to illustrate the difference, I ususally average a score of about 505-510 in  an indoor fita 18m, last week using the sling I score a personal best of 540.

This was only in practice not a competition but my previous best without a sling was 526. I think I will stick with it!

[damascusdave]

If I really want to control my bow hand I simply fold my fourth and fifth fingers against the side of the riser, with my index and third fingers around the front.

Problem I have with a sling is that it is just one more thing to take care of.

When I shoot my compounds I always use a sling.

DDave

[Stumpkiller]

I don't use one.  I keep my thumb and index finger in an "OK" sign type grip and the other fingers are pretty lose.  I don't want my bow nodding or waving at a deer while the arrow is in flight.  The less motion the better.

[BobCo 1965]

My hunting bows never see a sling. I find them to be a bit cumbersome while hunting. Other then hunting recurves - yes, I use shoe lace (well they are actually cotton ice skate laces) sling around my index finger and thumb.